Star India engages fans for Tendulkar's last match

Star India, the broadcaster and title sponsor of Sachin Tendulkar's last test series, is engaging fans across the world to provide a fitting farewell to the legendary Indian cricketer.

A campaign titled Cheer for Sachin invites fans to dial a number and cheer for Tendulkar, with recordings then being run across the Star Sports and Star India TV network. Star India will donate its share of the call revenues to a non-governmental organisation for sports development among young people.

Meanwhile, Starsports.com has created the #SachinMemoryProject, to portray Tendulkar's cricketing life in slide show format, with added anecdotes also being shared across the Star Sports Facebook and Twitter accounts. The broadcaster says the site is receiving between 25,000-30,000 views a day since it went live on 12 November.
"With the project, we wanted to give fans something special. Almost everybody in the media industry is running a special series on the cricketer but we wanted to create a memorabilia of sorts. Something that is easy to consume and something with which everyone can relate," Ajit Mohan, head of digital business, Star India told Indiantelevision.com.
Star Sports has also installed a FanCam at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai to capture a 360 degree memory of those lucky enough to say "I was there" at the Master Blaster's final match, from 14-19 November 2013.

The News Corp-owned broadcaster is expected to reap substantial advertising revenue during its coverage of Tendulkar's final test. The ten-second television advertising slots for a test match in India are estimated to usually be in the range of INR50,000-70,000 (US$790-$1,100). A local report however, estimates the ad rates for Tendulkar's final five-day test match to be an average of INR150,000-300,000 ($2,375-$4,743) per slot.